To Be a Good Priestess
by How-Peculiar
Summary: Hinata Hyuuga, Heir to the position of head priestess, has something to prove if she ever wishes to claim her rightful place & she plans on doing so by killing the most infamous demon of all time, Kyuubi.But Kyuubi is a lot more than she expects NaruHina
1. Chapter 1

This is a fic that I've gotten a lot of inspiration to do. I have no idea why. It is going to be very long, multi-chapter, NaruHina. I've only done minor edits. You have been warned!

**Warnings**: Use of language. Talk of Demons. Dark Naruto

Disclaimer: I do no own any characters used from Naruto/ Naruto Shippuden.

Hinata stumbled forward as her foot broke the surface of the snow and slid ankle deep into the icy blanket. The snow was beginning to lighten on her last day of her long trek, but the wind was just as cold and fierce. Her hair whipped around her face, constantly getting in her eyes and creating a stinging sensation when it slapped against her overly chilled face. She wasn't sure if she should be thankful that it was finally starting to warm up, or mad that it waited until her journey was almost over, but being cold to the point of questioning hypothermia was beginning to sour her mood and she quickly chose the latter, and through a quick glare to the heavens.

She sighed as closed her eyes, trying to stop herself from letting everything annoy her. Being in a bad mood out in these types of journeys only make things a lot worse. Taking a deep breathe that was too cold for her lungs, she continued her journey, willing herself to remember why she was here.

She was her clan's priestess, or at least she was trying to be. She was born the heir to position, but lack of good family genetics had left her family questioning the idea. So now here she was, venturing on this long, cold, lonely journey, in hopes of obtaining approval from her family.

She had been traveling for many weeks. A young man came to the compound in which her family resided and told her family elders a rumor spreading through the nations of one of the most abdominal demons treading through the snow country. It was an odd thing to hear, seeing as the demon, who goes by Kyuubi, was a fire demon, and thus according to the information gathered by priest over past generations should be avoiding such a tundra climate.

But Hinata took the chance and quickly set off in search for the demon while it would be in its weakest element. She had something to prove to her family if she wished to obtain the position of the family priest. The elders had grown unimpressed with the level of demons she was able to eradicate when she had turned 12. They were small pitiful demons in her family's eyes, and the fact that her name was famous for her power meant nothing to them.

She bowed her head in shame, as she continued walking. She hated thinking about this, yet it seemed to be all she could ever think about. It was like someone telling you; don't imagine a black cat, and the first thing you imagine is a black cat. It bothered her to no end that she was so weak, and it bothered her even more for bothering her.

She was too kind. That's what they told her. They said that she was keeping her true potential locked inside because she held too much sympathy for the demons she killed. She was supposed to be cold and uncaring, and show not even the slightest amount of emotion. She was a priest and thus was supposed to hold herself with dignity, higher than the rest, because people depended on her power and strength. So she couldn't let trivial things such as emotions get in her way. But she just couldn't do that. She could kill _anything,_ not even a bug without feeling at least guilty.

And guilt was an emotion. A bad one.

Sighing Hinata pushed her determination forward and brought herself out of her thoughts. All she had to do was kill this one demon. This would surely bring her higher in her family's eyes, high enough to be happily placed in her rightful position as heir. Kyuubi was a famous demon, and had been for many generations. His name was a nightmare for children and a curse for adults. It seemed each year he became more well-known and more powerful. Horrid, disturbing stories are told daily of his newest kill. Supposedly he isn't just massive sum of evil energy like the rest of his fellow demons, but he's intellectual and puts thought into his killing. Maybe that's why he's feared so much. Not only because he is the most powerful strength wise, but mentally as well.

Of course the same stories all have different versions to tale. It's been told that kyuubi was a deranged looking animal, resembling that of a fox with a multitude of tails. It's been said that Kyuubi is a feral looking creature that almost resembles a human with blood red eyes, a jagged tooth smile that splits his face and a monstrous howl. It's even been said that he can hide behind the mask of a human, which is his favorite way to kill his victims.

Hinata pursed her lips and shook her head. She was psyching herself out and needed to stop. 1. Because fear is an emotion and 2. Because being afraid would only make things a lot harder for her when she faced this monster. It could really potentially screw herself over.

Glancing up Hinata pushed her flailing hair behind one ear and tried to hold it there as she began to look ahead for any signs of nearing upon a village. Seeing what she could only hope to be the beginning of a village, and not another illusion her mind made up in her times of desperation, Hinata picked up her pace a little bit, her steps becoming sloppier and breaking through the layer of ice more often and headed towards the dark figures.

She squinted through the snow covered wind and her dark hair as well as she could, trying to make out the dark shadows appearing. Getting closer she couldn't help but to let out a small laugh of releif as the dark figures slowly began to turn into the silhouette of small building.

Really she hadn't expected to be so close to the village, she had estimated at least another few hours before she thought she'd make it to the out skirts of the snow village, maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all.

Feeling slightly guilty she threw an apology glance to the heavens.

Breathing heavily, Hinata began nearing the building until she saw was appeared to be a wall barricading the village. Walking up the stone wall she peered upwards, trying to see if she would be able to lift herself up on it and take a look around the village. But the wall was high and it didn't look like her finger tips could reach the top, and she wasn't willing to put her freezing fingers in the harsh weather but preferred to keep them bundled up in her sleeves and in the crease of her crossed arms.

Sighing, and taking in a burning breathe Hinata took a step back and decided to follow the wall in hopes of reaching an entrance of some sort. It seemed that her body had all of the sudden become exhausted and cold, almost like now that it knew salvation was so close it was already trying to sleep.

But she pushed herself forward and soon enough what appeared to be the entrance to the village came into view.

Pausing before she got too close to the entrance, Hinata took on the tedious task of taking her hands out of their makeshift warmers and running them through her ice cold hair in hopes of taming it as well as she could. She straightened herself up and tried to press a few wrinkles out of her kimono, while trying as hard as she could not to concentrate on how noticeably colder she got now that she let her entire body become exposed to the winter climate.

Sighing in dissatisfaction, she young girl gave up and gave in to the need a warm place. She knew she had an image to uphold, but right now she was feeling more human than invincible in the freezing weather, and her need for a warm room over powered her need to look her part. Really, this is one of the reasons her clan disliked the idea of holding her as head priest.

She shook her head and dismissed the depressing thought, and began making her way to the entrance of the gates.

The guards saw her before she saw them, if the way they stood in front of the opening in regard to her was in clue.

"Hello." Hinata began, her voice cracking from the cold drying out her throat.

"Ms. Hyuga, you've arrived." The guards said bowing deeply.

Hinata paused for a minute as she regarded the figures showing respect, before taking a shallower bow back.

"I wasn't aware my presence was expected." She said a little suspiciously.

"Yes ma'am. One of the guards said coming up from his bow, the others following suit. "We were for warned by your clan, that you'd be arriving, so that living preparations could be made."

And right then and there Hinata felt the need to smack herself in the head. Once again the clan had to take care of her, even being miles away. How she could have forgotten about something so important was beyond her, but she was sure that the elders were looking down at her this very moment for being so absent minded.

Obviously it was due to her haste to get to the snow country, and find the Kyuubi before it moved on to a more stable environment for itself, but that was still no excuse. It only took minutes to write a note and send it off with one of the messenger hawks.

Kami, she was already messing up.

"I see" Hinata said, trying not to let her bad mood get in the way of her stoic façade. "Well will one of you be escorting me?"

"Yes." The same guard replied, and turned to look at one of the guards behind him, signaling him to come forward.

"This is Sakura Hanuro, your guard for the next few days."

Hinata raised her eye brows as she looked at the guard with a female name. Female guards weren't unheard of, but they were rare. But because of the heavy armor, most likely used for both protection and warmth, and the protecting helmet that hid a great portion of her face, she could only guess her assumptions were right.

"It's nice to meet you Hanuro." Hinata said without emotion.

"Sakura is fine, ", the guard replied, and the pleasure is mine." Hinata listened to her voice, dying to figure out whether this was a boy or girl, but the voice was for the most part unisexual.

"If you'll follow me please." The guard began speaking again, turning to walk away.

Without a word Hinata silently followed, resisting the urge to hunch over and wrapped her arms around her like she had earlier. Being so opened to the cold made a horrible difference.

After a few minutes of walking through empty streets, and Hinata trying desperately to act like the cold didn't affect her they made it to a building, and Sakura held the door open, allowing Hinata to enter first.

She stepped through the doors and immediately sighed in relief. It was so warm. And the fact that she could feel the air warming her very slowly, only made her want to cuddle up in a blanket and speed up the process. But honestly with how cold she was, she doubted she'd be able to warm herself with her own body heat.

Maybe they had a hot spring here. She could definitely go for that. That, and maybe a nice steaming plate of food. Anything warm really. She had come so far for some heat, and now she only wanted more.

"Ms. Hyuuga? Did you hear me?" She guard said from behind Hinata, causing her to jump a little and whip around.

"Huh?", came Hinata's intelligent reply.

The guard was silent for a moment as he stared at her through his helmet. Hinata could feel her face turn red with embarrassment; that was definitely not a good reply. Hinata could just imagine her elders scolding her right now, for losing focus, and having a lack of manners.

"I'm sorry" Hinata said, as tonelessly as she could muster through her embarrassment, "Could you repeat that? I was lost in thought on other matters." Hinata tried not to shift as she guard was silent for a minute longer. Maybe that wasn't as redeeming as she imagined.

Then out of seemingly nowhere she noticed the guard laughing. Nothing rude or obnoxious, but it was apparent that he was laughing through the shaking of his shoulders.

Hinata glared daggers at the man. "Something funny Hanuro?" Hinata asked coldly, switching back to using his last name in a threating manner.

"No sorry." The guard said through some laughter. "It just seems you aren't exactly what I had been expecting."

"Oh?" Hinata said growing even more pissed off. Usually she was a very kind person, but this man was hitting the exact buttons that shouldn't be hit.

Hinata was more than aware that she wasn't what most people expected because she wasn't what she was supposed to be. That _got_ that. She didn't need some rude man, to laugh at her about it.

"And what exactly were you expecting?" Hinata asked rudely.

"A bitch." The guard said, lifting the helmet off his head. Hinata wasn't sure what was more surprising, the fact that a guard had in some way referred to her a bitch, or that fact that a stream of long pink hair fell from under the helmet and she was met with amused green eyes.

"And by the way," The girl continued smirking, "It's no use pretending you aren't cold when you're shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Next time just say something, I'm sure your Hyuuga pride isn't worth the risk of hypothermia."

Hinata just stood their dumb founded. No one talked to her this way. It was so rude, irreverent, insulting and _casual_.

"Oh." Was Hinata's dumb reply.

The guard just snorted and shook her head as she positioned her helmet to the side of her hip and began running her free hand through her long pink hair, shaking the knots from the shiny streams.

She was pretty, and in a way Hinata was kind of jealous. Not that Hinata thought of herself as ugly, but this girl was pretty and she knew it. Her confidence rolled off of her in thickets, the exact confidence that Hinata was supposed to have.

"Alright, Ms. Hyuuga," Sakura said, a smile gracing her lips as she finished the task of detangling her hair, "This is the Zen Hotel" she said sweeping her hand around, acting the part of a tour guide, "And your room will be right this way."

She began walking and Hinata began to silently follow. She wasn't sure if she liked this Sakura girl. She couldn't decide if her attitude was meant to be rude, or if she was just a blunt person. Even if she was just a blunt person she still couldn't decide if she liked it.

A bit reluctantly Hinata followed the girl to a room far in the back of the hotel stopping only for a short moment to let the person in the front know that she had arrived.

They reached the door and Sakura pulled out a key that she had received from the person up front and unlocked the door with what seemed to be practiced ease.

Once the door was opened Sakura held open the door and waited dutifully for Hinata to go in first. Ignoring the faint smirk, and knowing eyes of Sakura she walked past her into the room.

Maybe Sakura was just a rude person.

"Are you from around here?" Hinata asked suddenly, taking Sakura slightly off guard, judging by the look on her face.

She smiled as she closed the door behind her and tossed Hinata the keys which she caught, a bit clumsily.

"No, is it that obvious?" Sakura replied.

Hinata just shrugged. She didn't want to let her know that she reason she asked was because she wasn't used to people being so rude to her. That made her seem kind of wimpy, like she couldn't handle a little bit of mouth.

"Yeah," Sakura said her smile becoming softer as she looked out the window behind Hinata at the falling snow, giving herself something to do. "I'm actually from the village Hidden in the Leaves."

Hinata made a little o with her mouth as she processed this information. That would make sense. She had never been to the Hidden Leaf village personally, but she knew her family held little likeliness for them because of their behavior. She had heard that they were rude, and not respectful enough towards the Hyuuga family, when they came there on call, and she could easily see why they would say that.

"What are you doing here?" Hinata asked, hoping she didn't sound rude in her curiosity. In all honesty she felt a little guilty for talking so causally to this stranger and letting herself get out of character. But this girl had already called her out on the act; it really wasn't much use to keep pretending to be the Hyuuga priest at this point.

"I'm here on call", Sakura replied, shifting her weight and returning her gaze to Hinata. "This village sent out a lot of their guards in search of that Kyuubi demon, since he's in the area. Apparently everyone's got the idea that now's the best time to go after it."

She pursed her lips and raked her free hand through the underneath of her hair, combing it over her shoulder. "So they asked warriors from my village to come here so sit on our asses for guard duty."

"Oh." Hinata said, again feeling speechless due to the casual, disrespectful language. It would take some getting used to, that is, if she decided she wanted to try and get used to it. So far she wasn't so sure.

"Yup." Sakura said sighing, "in the Hidden Leaf village, it never snows."

Hinata sighed, wishing she could have been there instead, "Must be nice."

Sakura laughed and nodded her head, "You bet." She said happily with a hint of smugness. "There a change of clothes for you in the closet, it's probably warmer." Sakura said, changing the subject. And suddenly Hinata remembered how cold she was and immediately wrapped her arms around herself.

Her cloths had begun to get wet and soggy now that the snow was melting, and she was feeling the effects of being cold and wet.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and lightly snorted, like she was watching someone about to do a stupid trick.

"I can take you to the hot spring later if you like. But I have orders to make sure your fed first, so you still need to change."

Hinata was seriously starting to dislike the way she spoke. It was like she was talking to a 3 year old. But the promise of food, and the fact that she was a bit too shy to voice her dislike kept her quiet and she began heading towards what she could guess to be the closet.

True to her word there was a dark, thick kimono hanging loosely in the middle of the closet alone.

Hinata picked took it off the rack and held it up to view it better. Not her usual priestess attire, but it looked a hell of a lot warmer.

"After you get changed, I'm going to have to do something to your hair. It definitely looks like you've been traveling for days in 60 miles per hour wind."

Once again Hinata's face burned with embarrassment because of this girl and she officially decided that no, Hinata Hyuuga did not like Sakura Hanuro.

(A/N): Next chapter will have some Naruto in it ;) yay Naruto lovin!  
**Review if you want more! **

_or if you just love How-Peculiar (;_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

It had been a rather long rest of the day for Hinata. She did end up going to the hot springs after a wonderful meal prepared by the hotel kitchen staff and about 30 minutes of excessive tugging and pulling on her hair by Sakura, which Sakura defended as 'completely necessary'.

She had also spent a good portion of the day meeting with the more important people of the village. Village leaders, delegates, clan heads. These people, unlike Sakura, were right up her ally. She knew exactly how to deal with their type of behavior; which was to stay quiet and let them talk to their hearts desire, while seeming delighted with everything they say. Something Hinata knew she could right without any worry of messing up. After all, her father had pounded lessons of proper educate and manners into her mind the day she began talking. Apparently her first words of 'Dadda' weren't enough to please him; he was hoping for something more along the lines of 'please' and 'thank you' which he made severely obvious.

After meeting with those people, and being somewhat congratulated on her plans of defeating Kyuubi when they took a few minutes to stop talking about themselves, Hinata had called it a day and returned to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Not that she was physically tired, but listening to the monotone voices of people who find themselves more important than real world issues tended to bore her to sleep. So she said goodbye to Sakura and began heading back to her hotel, having made sure the first thing she did was memorize routes to and from her current living quarters. After all, asking a random stranger on the street for directions would look extremely unprofessional.

But her mood had taken a horrible turn for the worst she returned with Sakura in tow and news that she would be across the hall in the other room, for she was not only Hinata's guide, but her guard as well. And now Hinata was wide awake, in the middle of the night, still burning in fury.

Not that Hinata didn't like Sakura, well maybe she did, however she was completely peeved by the idea of needing a guard and argued against it to no avail. She was here to kill the most famous demon of all time. She did _not _need to be guarded, like some baby needing to be baby sat.

She was trying to prove a point to her family. But apparently the point needed to be made to a lot more people.

To say she was irate and pissed was a bit of an understatement. She knew that her death inside a foreign village would lead to political issues for said village, but she was more than capable of protecting herself, and knowing that not only your family but an entire freakin' village thinks you need protection was just insulting and aggravating.

Did she send off some kind of vibes? Vibes telling everyone around her that she was weak and needed protection? Did she have handle with caution written across her forehead? Because people sure were acting like she was damn fragile. Maybe it was because she was a girl and everyone here was just a bunch of sexist pigs.

She knew she was being dramatic. It was obvious to anyone that the village was protecting Hinata only as a security measure for itself. After all, who would want to be the ones to blame for the death of the _Hyuugas._ Their village would go through hell and back for it. But she didn't want to be understanding and logical about it. She wanted Sakura Haruno to get the hell out of the hotel and for the village and her whole family to believe that she was strong, and since they didn't and Sakura was clearly going to be spending the next few days across the hall, she wanted to be pissed.

She sighed irritably and rolled over in her bed, smashing her face into the pillow and hugging it tightly. She laid there for a minute like that until the need to breathe became too over bearing and she turned her head to the side to take in a deep breathe.

Her eyes traveled to the window and she stared out of it. The snow had stopped falling, and the night was rather clear. She couldn't make out much through the fogged up glass, but she could clearly see the shine of the moon hovering over the top of buildings and a few stars dotting the visible sky. All in all it was a pretty night, and really did a lot to make her mood better.

But before she could process what was going on white filled her vision and her room began to shake rapidly. Reflexively she grabbed on to the bed, her eyes wide and heart pounding before a loud boom echoed throughout the village. As soon as she was able to register the explosion she jumped off the bed wobbling and stumbled to the door as screams began tearing through the night sky and mix with the rattling of her wooden room. As she wrenched the door open the shaking died down and she took off in a mad dash to the front of the hotel.

Somewhere behind her she could hear her name being called by Sakura in a panic, but chose to ignore it. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, giving her an extra push, so she braced the cold and sprinted to the front door of the inn.

Pushing the door of the hotel open she was able to more clearly hear the screaming in the distance that began echoing down the streets. People began filing out of their homes with questioned sliding off their tongues, mixtures of curious and horrified expressions plastered across their faces as they all looked in the direction of the explosion and screaming.

Her heart was beginning to slow down and thought was coming back to her, so she tried to focus at the task at hand. That was a huge explosion, which meant that was either an attack from a different village, or a demon.

Logically though there were no man made attacks that could cause that kind of trembling, so the chances that is was anything but a demon was slim.

With that in mind she began in the direction of the chaos when another flash of white light filled her vision, the sound of an explosion following soon after. A wave of energy flared out and the force of it was enough to slam her into the ground. She tried to brace herself against the ground, catching herself with her arms, as the shock wave beat against her. She looked up once the air began to calm, feeling dizzy as the ground began shaking again. She didn't understand what was going on anymore but she could feel the energy around her turn into panic and knew she had to act fast.

She tried looking around but her vision was blurring and swaying, discreetly she was able to make out a mass of legs closing in on her, stomping the ground with ferocity. Slowly screams began to fill her ears as the sound began returning to them, and she was barely able to push herself into the side of the inn before a stampede of people began rushing by her. Pushing herself up she began trying to run along the wall, opposite of the crowd of people, and felt herself get shoved into the brick. She was barely going walking pace even though she was using all her strength.

People constantly jarred into her shoulder and she was slammed back into the wall many times when people blindly pushed against her in their desperate struggle to get out. The screaming was deafening and she was beginning to feel as though her senses were over loading. But she kept of pressing back, trying to make her way to whatever was causing the mass explosions.

Slowly she was beginning to be pressed into the wall less and less and began roughly pushing against people in the little space she now had. The crowd was thinning and she was starting to make some progress.

Finally she made it to the end of the stampede and took off in a mad dash. After only a few seconds she felt like she had ran into a wall of energy. It was pure emotion, like nothing she had ever felt before. Hot rage filled her senses as though she was feeling the emotion its self. She knew it had to be the demon, but this was like nothing she had ever felt before. It wasn't just malice and hatred, it was raw emotion. Anger. Rage.

Screams were beginning to fade behind her and she began to feel uneasy as the feeling of being alone crept inside her. Squaring up her shoulders as she ran she pulled out her determination and kept going. The air began to get hot with buzzing energy as she ventured on; it was smoldering and burned her skin, as though she was running through a steamed room.

This had to be it; this had to be the Kyuubi.

She had never encountered anything like this before and found that the further she ran the harder it seemed to move forward. It was like the air was becoming denser and suffocating, like she was running through hot water.

Memories of past demons ran through her memory and she began comparing them all to what she was experiencing now. Images of deformed angry creatures and their deaths began flashing behind her eyes, but nothing compared to this. She had never felt emotion behind the demonic aura before.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she began to get nervous. She knew the demon Kyuubi had unimaginable power, but she was beginning to realize that she wasn't prepared for this at all. No books, training, or experience had prepped her for this kind of encounter. She hadn't even come face to face with the demon yet and just the energy it was emitting seemed like it was enough to kill an average person.

As she pushed herself to keep going, fear beginning to make itself into the front of her mind she began to noticing a small howl in the distance. A chill shook her and she tried to brush it off as she began stumbling upon some destruction of the village. Buildings were beginning to crumble and the ground seemed to have split and be pushed outwards in some places. Pipes were sticking out of the ground and every now and again she would see the body of a person, caught and killed in the suffocating aura of the demon or crushed by fallen debris.

Briefly she wondered if those people would have been her if she had been any closer to the explosions earlier, but quickly threw the thought away and gave a short plead to the heavens that Kyuubi wouldn't let out another one.

Another howl pierced the night sky, this time a lot closer, shredding the atmosphere and stopping Hinata dead in her tracks. The howl continued to scrape against the air chilling every bone in her body. A sick tremble crawled up her back. It had to be the worst sound she had ever heard.

It sounded like death itself had manifested itself into a cry, and the demon was letting it out madly. Hinata felt herself begin to shake, and all of her resolve, her nerve, and her determination was lost. She wanted to run. She wanted to get as far away from this as she possibly could. This couldn't be a demon. She had faced so many in her life. This had to be some reincarnation of death, rage, hate. It was something so much more evil. She had to run away and she had to do it now.

But somehow she found herself slowly moving and beginning to run forward again.

She was still saying to run away, but it she began to recognize the voice as not her own. She could hear panic, and self-doubt, and she could feel the intense need to run in her own voice, but it was like someone else was talking for her. Something clicked inside Hinata's head and she understood what was happening. She was being manipulated.

It made sense, that's why she doubted herself so much. It had to be. She was under a casting spell that was trying to tear her down mentally, and wasn't completely working because she had experience with demons.

Still, Usually as long as you know about a demons ability to manipulate it couldn't affect you, but this demon was strong, strong enough to still manage to worm its way into her mind. Hinata stopped for a minute and closed her eyes, bringing forth her own will power and spiritual energy.

She began working her own energy to push out that of the Kyuubi. It was slowly working and her own inner panic began to cease.

Another chilling howl pierced the night sky and Hinata's eyes snapped open. The howl, it was the howl that was casting the spell! Now that she knew she would have a better chance of standing up against, but even then she could still feel a little self-doubt creep back into her with the accompanying of the monstrous scream.

She took a deep breath and willed it away once again. She couldn't allow the demons energy to entered her mind and toy with it. That was the number one death among priests, their inability to keep themselves separate from the demons chakra.

Knowing that, she began to pull out her own pure chakra and form a barrier around her body. Sure it wouldn't protect her physically, but mentally she had a better chance of standing up to the creature.

Opening her eyes, Hinata stood there for a minute looking at the knocked over buildings and few uprooted concrete, concentrating on the heated anger blowing at her and burning her. After a minute of taking it all in and really realizing what she was doing she began moving towards the demon again and soon not even the road was visible and Hinata had to begin climbing her way through the debris of building and trees.

The pace was a lot slower and the air was getting hotter and more suffocating. She began to pant, sucking in deep breathes that didn't seem to hold much oxygen. Flames began to be visible as they spread through the fallen buildings reaching towards the dark sky, lighting up the area.

Once again she was getting nervous but she knew it was due to the enchantment.

Or at least she hoped so.

She climbed over what seemed to be another fallen building and felt the ground beneath her shift. Freezing, she felt a rush of nervous adrenaline shoot to her fingertips. Slowly Hinata began trying to gently move her weight forward, but the footing beneath her shifted again and gave out from beneath her.

Hinata let out a short yell as she fell through the floor and landed harshly on her back, banging her head on the hard ground.

Her entire body seemed to shake from the impact from the inside and Hinata gasped as the air was knocked out of her, slowly rolling on her side, trying to suck in some air and deal with the pain. Through the light streaming in through the hole above her from the flames she was absent mindedly able to make out the area to be a barber shop. Specialized chairs were scattered haphazardly around the cave like enclosed area, and wall mirrors lay broken everywhere.

She felt her stomach drop and tried not to throw up when she saw a body smashed beneath one of the chairs, a pool of blood bathing it. She knew she couldn't think of that now, it would only mess her up. But even then whenever she looked away from scene the image of a rather young girl with the edge of the chair going completely through her head, a shocked expression in lifeless eyes, didn't leave her mind.

She shook her head and put her forehead to the ground and breathed in and out deeply.

"Stay calm Hinata. Stay calm." She nodded to herself and looked up, pointedly making an effort not to look in the direction of the girl.

The building seemed to have collapsed on its self but had managed to create an unsteady bubble within it.

"Need to get out." Hinata mumbled meekly. The hole above her wasn't too far up, but if she risked climbing up the wall she could potentially dislodge something holding the space up.

She could feel panic rise and squashed it down like a bug. It was hard staying calm when you were so close to something that felt like death. She didn't even feel like she was facing a demon anymore, no evil force, or demonic sum of mass. Instead she felt like she was running to her death, or death itself.

But she couldn't think like that. She could do this. No. Even if she couldn't, she had to try. It wasn't a choice for her anymore. Her life depended on killing this demon, and if she wasn't able to do that then she didn't have a life worth living. It was as simple as that.

Putting her hands up to her face she breathed into her palms and tried to convince herself that everything she was saying was true. Slowly and shakily she lowered her hands and looked around the space. Forming as good of a plan as her mind could at the moment she began taking minuscule, bulky items from around the area that didn't seem to be holding up anything important and stacking them.

She could feel the air become hotter and she was sweating and panting hard. She could only hope that it was the demons chakra, and not the flames becoming closer. If she flames got to her first then she was done for. Unlike a demon she had no magical way of dealing with those.

Carefully Hinata began climbing up the stacked items making her way back to the surface, shaking as the fixture beneath her trembled unsteadily. As she pulled herself through the hole she had fallen in she took a look around and realized with horror that the flames had in fact begun to surround her. Lights of red and orange danced ferociously close, burning her skin without contact.

She began coughing and could feel the oxygen being eaten away by the flames.

She was close to suffocating,

She looked around and began stumbling in the only direction not covered in flames. She slid a little ways down and landed on her hands and coughing madly.

Her skin was hot, and soon it became difficult to think about anything else but how hot she was. Searing and red. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was able to recall the fact that she could feel the demonic aura's intensity and knew that the demon had to be extremely close. But all thought was lost as the flames began to close around her and she choked madly, her vision fading.

Faintly feeling a presence she looked up and her heart stopped. Through the fire a deformed creature stood watching her. All she could make out through the bright flames was its shadow but that was more than enough.

She watched frozen as eyes so blood red that they penetrated the flames stared enraged at her.

A monstrous howl tore through the crackling of the flames and Hinata crashed her head into the ground covering her ears desperately. She began shaking, she couldn't do this, what was she thinking? She may be the heir to the family's head priestess but she was nothing compared to this. Now she was going to die here, having proved nothing to her family but that they were right and she was weak.

Hinata began hyper ventilating through her coughing fit as her body shook drastically.

Her vision began to fade to black and her skin began to burn so much that it almost felt like she was freezing. Slowly the darkness consumed her.

"an earthquake.. and if that earth quake don't kill us all, Kyuubi will lay down an atomic bomb.. and if that atomic bomb don't shake, Kyuubi will release an earth quake.."

Hinata slowly began to gain consciousness to the sound of someone distorting the lyrics to little mocking bird. The ugly lyrics matched with the caring voice of a mother would normally creep her out, but right now she was too groggy to care.

"Deciding to wake up?" A humored voice said from above her and Hinata groaned throwing an arm over her face with extreme effort.

"Nice to know you missed me." Sakura said, a smile evident in her voice.

"Leave me alone." Hinata moaned turning her head away from the girl, feeling pain shoot up her neck with the movement and freezing.

Everything felt black. She felt like there was just a big gaping hole and it was pitch black.

"I think a normal person would say something along the lines of 'how on fucking earth am I alive?'" Sakura said sarcastically, and Hinata could hear her shift in her seat from beside her.

And suddenly everything went from black to red. Deep dark blood thirsty red. Her heart began hammering in her chest and she bolted up in bed a scream caught in her throat.

Pain shot up her spine and her ears felt like they would burst from the level of blood pounding on them. Faintly behind the intense pounding and ragged breathing Hinata was able to hear the rapid beeping of a machine and Sakura's voice.

"-ta, lay back down!" Sakura voice ordered fading into her mind finally.

A gentle yet firm push on her chest sent Hinata lying back in bed.

"My Kami, you're shaking." Sakura said and Hinata saw her move somewhere in the corner of her eye.

But all she was focused on was seeing the shadowed creature and deranged red eyes glaring at her through the flames.

Something cold was placed on her forehead, bringing her from her fear induced state.

"Wha-" Hinata began, but was cut off by Sakura.

"It's just a cold rag. But it seemed to have helped."

Hinata started at her for a moment, looking into her jade eyes that seemed to hold worry.

"I saw Ky-. That thing." Hinata stated suddenly, unable to say the creature's name. "It's not normal."

Sakura's eyes widened briefly before she suddenly turned away.

"I'm sorry." Sakura said suddenly.

Hinata was silent for a moment, her mind running slow. Sorry for her? For having to encounter such a hideous thing?

"It's okay." Hinata said numbly.

Sakura didn't turn around to look at her, but instead moved to a cabinet in the room and began getting various bottles down from them.

"No Hinata. I'm sorry for doubting you." She popped the lid of a bottle and counted a few out before placing the lid back on and setting the bottle back into the cabinet.

"What?" Was Hinata's smart reply, confusion lacing her voice and making it obvious she was being honest. Was Sakura trying to say that she wasn't actually a rude person? What weird timing to say something like that.

"I thought you were weak. Ya know?" She was popping the lid off another bottle.

Hinata nodded to her, even though Sakura couldn't see her, not really sure what to do.

"But you saved this entire village."

Hinata's mind stopped dead in its tracks. She had thought she was comprehending at least some of the conversation, but apparently she was wrong.

"I did what?" Hinata stuttered out.

Sakura turned to her, an understanding expression on her face.

"I thought you may not remember, you apparently hit your head pretty hard. You saved this entire village Hinata."

No. She had hit her head when she fell inside that building and she was able to remember it clearly. She also remembered blacking out right in front of Kyuubi, not able to do a thing. There was some mistake somewhere. Did people honestly think that? That she saved a village?

"I don't think I did." Hinata replied honestly. "I-" but Hinata stopped talking. What _did_ she do? She thought she had died. But here she was right now. Sitting in bed talking to Sakura. Unless this was heaven, which couldn't be possible seeing as her body was sore as hell and Sakura was here. No offense to Sakura.

"We all thought we were doomed." Sakura began, talking as though she was reciting the memory of a loved one that had passed. "All the villagers were cramming at the gates trying to get out and me and the other guards were trying to keep things calm and under control enough to get people out. But then, all of the sudden, the most pure thing we ever felt washed over us. It was so calming."

Sakura took a deep, shaky breath, as if trying to calm herself. She turned back to the cabinet and collected the assorted medicine and brought it over to Hinata who held her hand out to accept it numbly. Her mind was blank and she stared wide eyed at Sakura.

"I guess you need some water to swallow those." Sakura said a small smile gracing her lips. Hinata just nodded dumbly, her mind not functioning.

Sakura went over to the cabinet and pulled out a Styrofoam cup, filling it with cold water from the sink and gave it to Hinata who accepted it numbly again.

"You should take that." Sakura smirking when Hinata didn't move, "Once the painkiller from the IV ware off you're going to really feel the effects of how sore you are."

Her tone was slightly sassy and Hinata was able to better recognize her now than the melodramatic Sakura that was reciting her story. But before Hinata could get comfortable with the Sakura she was used to, and try to convince herself that the story she had just heard was her imagination, Sakura's expression became solemn again.

"Anyway." Sakura breathed, returning the focus on her story, "After that feeling overcame us a sort of white-blue light appeared and when it faded away Kyuubi was gone."

"I killed him?" Hinata asked incredulously.

Sakura gave a snort and shook her head, "Oh no. He just retreated."

"Oh" Hinata said and finally took notice of the painkillers in her hand, taking a minute to down them with the water. Her throat was sore and felt as though somebody had turned it inside out and left it to dry in the sun for a few days. She choked a bit and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Take smaller sips." She advised, but instead of sounding like a sarcastic bitch she actually seemed caring.

"What about the fire?" Hinata asked, remembering what almost caused her death.

"Gone." Sakura said smiling, "I guess Kyuubi took them along with him. Although it really doesn't make much sense."

"No." Hinata agreed, talking more to herself than Sakura, "It doesn't."

The room went silent and Sakura watched Hinata for a minute before turning for the door.

"I'm going to tell your doctor you woke up." She said excusing herself.

Something clicked and Hinata looked at Sakura incredulously, "Wait!" Hinata said, causing Sakura to stop midway out the door and look back. "You're not my doctor?"

Sakura just laughed and shook her head no.

"Then why did you give me painkillers?" Hinata asked, feeling a little bit guilty for the suspicion in her voice, especially after what Sakura had just said.

"I'm a medic nin, and in my opinion better than this dipshit of s doctor we got running through these halls. I was able to tell you would need those right away. But don't worry, Ill inform the doctor I gave them to you."

Hinata nodded, not really sure what else to do and Sakura left the room leaving Hinata by herself.

After she watched the door for a minute or so she turned on her side and stared at the white wall.

She had a lot to think about and what a better time to do so than in a hospital, bed ridden.

**(A/N):** Wow :) I'm very pleased peoples reaction to this story, I can only hope to keep yalls interest! I changed Sakura's last name in this chapter, thank you for correcting me on that. Sorry that we only got to see Naruto as a demon in this chapter but we'll get to enjoy his human nature soon lol. Thanks to all of you who put your time into this story (: Please reveiw so I know if I should keep going or if I've lost interest! Thanks 333  
**XOXO -Peculiar3**


	3. Chapter 3

Only Minor edits have been done!

**Warnings:** Language, Talk of demons, Dark Naruto

Disclaimer: I own nothing used from Naruto/ Naruto Shippuden.

"Sakura." Hinata said with a hint of annoyance. "You've told me this before."  
Sakura stopped talking and looked at Hinata perplexedly, "Did I tell you about the part where he took me to get ice cream?"

"Yes." Hinata said flatly.

"He doesn't even like sweets!" Sakura squealed excitedly, putting her hands on her cheeks and smilingly like a love struck fool.

Hinata sighed and let her head fall back onto the pillows behind her. She was _still_ in the hospital two weeks after the incident happened. After the head of the village had thanked her personally, which Hinata found herself completely speechless at, he promptly told her that she wouldn't be permitted to the leave hospital until she was in perfect health.

Nobody was ever in perfect health. They could be in good health sure, but lacking a few vitamins here, maybe a scratch on the skin there, a little dehydrated maybe, but no one was ever in _perfect_ health. Which is why when Taimyou-sama, the head of the village, stressed the word perfect to her multiple times, she began to fear she would be living in the hospital for the rest of her life.

In her opinion she could be released now. She was constantly tired, seeing as her body was still healing, and her muscles were a weird sort of jelly sore, which apparently came from being denied of oxygen for a long period of time while caught in the fire, but she was no longer in the need to professional care.

She knew that once again the village was only going through means to protect itself politically. They had even confessed to her that they were trying to relieve themselves of any reliability that may come with future health problems Hinata may have.

It was understandable she supposed.

While she was in the hospital she had spent a large amount of time thinking about what had happened to Kyuubi. She had gotten Sakura to retell the story again and again, and begged her to include any details, even thoughts that seemed insignificant.

But no matter how detailed the story was told the fact remained that nothing made sense of it. She, logically, should have died and the rest of the village should have been destroyed. Even with the level of spiritual energy that Sakura claimed she had released, which Hinata had a hard time believing, that still wouldn't have been enough to push back Kyuubi's offenses.

Kyuubi. That was something that she never wanted to experience again. And after receiving a letter from her family stating that they had heard of the news of Kyuubi and that they would be glad for Hinata to return home in order to claim her title, she might not have to. But she was having a hard time leaving it there. Maybe to her family she had proved that she was worthy for the position of head priestess, but to herself all she proved was that she was capable of passing out in front of one of the most abdominal demons of all time.

"Oh Hinata!" Sakura's sudden voice brought Hinata out of her thoughts, "I did also tell you that Ino saw me with Sasuke and almost blew a gasket right?"

Hinata just merely looked at her with exasperation.

Another thing would have to be the arrival of Sasuke Uchiha from the Hidden Leaf village, Sakura's apparent boyfriend. He had come as back up for Sakura in her guarding duties after the attack of Kyuubi and ever since then Hinata felt like she had learned about their entire relationship through the story telling of Sakura.

Hinata actually liked Sasuke. He was quiet, but intuitive, a "genius" according to Sakura. And while the atmosphere became a little thick when it was his turn to guard Hinata, she revealed in the quiet that came with him, as opposed to Sakura.

"Hinata why don't you have a boyfriend?" Sakura suddenly asked her, causing Hinata to choke.

"What makes you think I don't?" Hinata asked after she had regained her composure.

Sakura raised an eye brow and looked Hinata up and down skeptically.

"Lucky guess." Sakura replied looking to the side with a 'know it all' expression.

Oh yes. It was times like these Hinata still couldn't decide if she liked Sakura or not.

A quiet knock came at the door, and Hinata was thankful for the interruption, because honestly she rather not delve into her love life, or lack of one. Sasuke silently entered, first looking at Sakura then Hinata and giving a short nod.

"We're switching positions Sakura." Sasuke stated tonelessly.

"Alright." Sakura said happily, and began waltzing out of the door, but not before stopping to peck Sasuke on the lips.

"See ya in a few hours Hinata." Sakura called over her shoulder and promptly left the room.

Sasuke looked at Hinata and leaned back against the door like Sakura should have been doing, instead of pulling up chair to her bedside.

"Doing okay Hinata?" Sasuke asked out of formality.

"Yes, I'm doing much better, thanks." She said and smiled timidly. Sasuke was nice, but still a little intimidating. "I'm going to try and sleep for a while." Hinata told him and immediately felt stupid for doing so. He merely nodded his head and looked out the window.

Hinata turned her back to him and slid down into her sheets, pulling the thin blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes.

She was very tired, but when Sakura was around the chance of sleeping was very slim, seeing as Sakura never let the atmosphere become quiet.

"Do you want the light off Hinata?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"It's up to you." Hinata replied, honestly preferring the light to be off, but not wanting to subject Sasuke to the darkness. But after a few silent moments the light flipped off and once again Hinata found herself victim to sleep.

Hinata knew to be expecting something, after the Kyuubi attack it felt like the calm before the storm, which is why when a small explosion went off one the first floor of the hospital shaking the building and jerking her from her sleep she wasn't surprised at all. Throwing the thin white covers off her Hinata began stumbling through the dark room in search of the light. She made her way towards the door, heading for the switch right next to it, hating the way her legs felt weak.

Right now Sasuke and Sakura should be roaming the halls, which meant that hopefully they would run into whatever trouble was lurking and stop it first.

As she neared the switch the door swung open and Hinata gasped throwing her arms in front of her in surprise. She looked up expecting to find a panicking Sakura but was shocked to instead see a vast pair of deep blue eyes glaring angrily at her.

"Found you." A deep rough voice said lowly.

"Wha?" Hinata began, stumbling backwards while starring at the glaring blue eyes, but was cut off when the boy suddenly began moving towards her and roughly yanked her forward by the arm. The grip was tight and Hinata made a choking noise due to the pain. Pulling her across himself awkwardly the young man put a painful grip around her waist and hefted her upwards. Hinata began pushing against him and yelling, but nothing seemed to affect him. Her muscles were still weak and the young boy was abnormally strong. He glance over his shoulder at the door and listened as feet began racing towards where he was, accompanied by the shouts of people. Looking forward the boy quickly spotted the window and his eyes set in determination. Hinata's eyes widened as she saw his goal and in a desperate attempt to break free began pulling on his blonde hair, and clawing at his head.

This earned a reaction from him and a low grow escaped his throat. He let go of Hinata waist and bent down picking Hinata up by one of her ankles while still maintaining an iron grip on one of her forearms. It was a painful position that left Hinata dangling awkwardly in the air, unable to make good use of her other limbs, so she opted to just kick and squirm and hope to gods the boy dropped her. But in a rush of wind Hinata found herself flying from the hospital window. Her stomach leapt into her throat and she screamed as she rushed through the air. At the front of her mind was the realization that she would hit the ground and most definitely be killed.

As her momentum changed direction and she began falling to the ground pure terror fill her. She began flailing around, something in her mind telling her to try and position herself better for the fall, until something that felt like an iron wall rammed into her side, jarring the breath right out of her. She wildly looked around to see that the ground was moving quickly beneath her but she wasn't heading towards it. Looking up to what was holding her, her breathe caught in her throat when her eyes locked on to a pair of all too familiar crimson red eyes glaring ahead. They pierced the night sky, just like she had remembered and she found herself choking as she tried gasp in a large amount of air.

Suddenly the red eyes were staring back at her and Hinata felt like her heart was going to ram through her chest. Her entire body began rigid and she left like she was on the verge of a mental break down. But her vision turned back to the night sky then the forest floor as she was thrown around in the air. She felt something hard ram into her stomach and wheezed when she breath was knocked out of her, realizing she had been thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her chin knocked against his back and her teeth clattered painfully. She used all her will power to put as much space between her face and his back as she could.

She looked to the ground, panic still racing through her and saw the top of a building flash beneath them. Faintly she was able to realize that they weren't flying through the air but in fact the boy was leaping through the roof tops.

"Where are you taking me?" She choked, her mind telling her to try and take some control of the situation, and she knew that even with her voice muffled by the wind whirling past them and the sound of hers and his cloths flapping in the wind that he heard her. She waited a few minutes when no response came.

Suddenly she felt like crying. Her throat constricted and tears began to weld up in her eyes. She tried to deny any aspect that this person could be Kyuubi. They barely had a demonic signature, minus that slowly seeping through his cloths, but even the small amount was painfully familiar. She was going to be killed. Of course she hadn't killed Kyuubi, and she had speculated more than once that he might come back for her. But now that the moment was here she was more terrified than she had ever been and found herself at a loss of what to do.

Feeling determination spark inside of her she began kicking and thrusting around madly, putting as much use into her weakened muscles as she could. She felt the grip around her legs loosen, as if the boy hadn't been expecting that and her heart leapt into her throat when she began falling forward. But the moment was short lived when she grip returned, twice as tight and twice as painful.

"Let go!" Hinata began screaming and wildly moving around.

"Shut it." The deep voice growled out at her and Hinata froze at the sound of it.

"Move again and I'll drop you a good 60 feet from the ground, got it?"

Once again she was at a loss of what to do. She didn't want to be dropped 60 feet to her death but was more than sure that she demon was going to kill her any way. Trusting her instinct for now Hinata remained still. She didn't know what else to do, what else to think.

In a state of denial she began telling herself that there was no way that this man could be Kyuubi. He was just an abnormal human that she could get away from if she needed to, which she did. The chakra signal was too weak and he looked far too human.

But she knew it was a lie. She could feel the strength being held back. It was like a huge damn with a few leaks, and it was pounding against the stone wall with a huge amount of force.

She knew what was happening and after her last encounter with Kyuubi she didn't give herself much of a chance of living.

Suddenly Kyuubi came to a sharp stop and her jaw once again slammed into her hard back. But she didn't have much time to think about the pain shooting up the nerves of her teeth when she was abruptly flipped from his shoulder to the ground. She landed on her back, elbows scraping against the ground.

She looked up with alarm, quickly trying to find the blonde man. But when she did find him a few feet in front of her she was surprised to see him looking behind him, as if searching for something.

"Stay here." He said without turning around. His voice was full of threat and she could feel the seriousness of his demand. In a flash he was gone, the only indication of his presence being the snow that flew into the air behind him.

Hinata stared at the spot he had been with wide eyes and shaking. He left her alone. This was her chance to escape. She knew it was probably slim but this was the only chance she would get. If she didn't make it she would die either way. She realized that they were already out of the village and in the surrounding ice covered forest.

The will to live and adrenaline pumping through her she shakily rose to her feet and dashed off into the woods beside her. The ground was numbing her feet to a point where she couldn't feel anything. After a moment of running she realized she needed to suppress her energy level in order to refrain from leaving an obvious trail behind, so she did just that, not having much trouble seeing as her level was low due to her healing process.

Changing direction after successfully hiding her signature she began running frantically through the brush and woods. She felt branches and thorns scrape against, and ice began to burn her skin, but kept up her mad dash.

Changing directions again the lighting became less and less visible as she traveled further into the dense forest. She began losing balance as her feet became completely numb and began stumbling through her sprint. She rammed her foot into something and gasped as she fell to the floor.

She stared wide eyed at the dark forest floor as pain flooded her first two toes and she knew without a doubt that she had broken them. Reaching back with a trembling hand covered in icy water, she gently ran her fingers over her toes, choking when dread engulfed her as she felt them bending at abnormal angels. She turned to the tree next to her and hugged it awkwardly the frozen water burning her arms, as she began pulling herself from the ground. Taking a deep breathes as she tried to block out the vibrating pain in her foot. Timidly stepping forward she choked on a gasp and fell to her knees when her foot began spasming in protest.

As she laid there on her hands and knees in the forest floor she began feeling tears stream down her face. Would she resort to crawling? Would that even get her anywhere? She couldn't see anything anymore. She didn't know where she needed to go, and she didn't think that with suck limited mobility she would be able to get there. Would she be safe here? Had she gotten far enough away?

Her answer came to her when a deep voice spoke from in front of her.

"Didn't listen at all."

Hinata froze as her eyes became impossibly wide.

She listened intently as quiet footsteps began walking towards her. She was having a hard time making out their location which was scaring her even more. It was like being the main character of a horror movie, and everything was going wrong.

Without warning Hinata felt a tight grip on her arm and she screamed as she tried to yank herself backward. Blindly she felt for him in front of her and began pushing on his chest.

A blue light surrounded her hands and Hinata looked up just in time to see wide, shocked, red eyes staring at her through the illumination.

Roughly she was pushed backwards and the glowing light vanished. She fell back on her side and was breathing heavily, her eyes searching blindly in the dark. She heard the boy wheeze for a second before an angered growl escaped his voice.

"Mother fucking-" the boy growled and Hinata stared into the blackness that his voice came from.

He sounded like he was in pain and Hinata brought her hands to her chest, not believing what just happened. Her hands began shaking as she realized she had just released a wave of spiritual energy. Nothing she had ever done before.

Loud stomping began nearing her and she felt herself begin to panic again. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to do that again, she wasn't even sure how she did it!

Abruptly she realized that the demonic energy that was once barely escaping him was sound leaking out in a steady stream.

"S-Stay away from me" she stuttered, feeling the danger approaching her.

But her warning was ignored when she felt an arm loop around her waist from behind and pull her up tightly to a hard chest.

"Never. Do. That. Again." the boy said slowly, right behind her ear in a low dangerous growl. Hinata could feel the killing intent rolling off of him in waves, and realized that hurting Kyuubi may have been a more stupid move.

Swiftly her legs were whisked from underneath her and she felt her stomach drop and gasped loudly when Kyuubi took a leap into the tree tops. As Kyuubi ascended into the trees he shifted Hinata's weight so that she was being carried with the crook of her legs in one arm and the other arm awkwardly supporting her shoulders while trying to maintain a good grip on her.

"I'm telling you now." Kyuubi's deep voice said against the night sky, "If you move I'll drop you, but this time I'll just let you fall." His voice held no amusement or sarcasm, and Hinata found herself worrying about whether or not she would accidently move.

Kyuubi broke through the surface of the trees and moonlight shone upon him. Hinata's eyes widened and she held in a gasp as she saw the blood splattered across his chest and the smeared across his face. Now she knew what he had gone back to do when he left her in the forest and with that realization she didn't have a doubt in her mind that if she did move Kyuubi would just let her fall. So she stayed as still as she could, her mind beginning to panic. This was scarier than that time she had ran to Kyuubi herself. Then she had control, she knew what was going to happen and she was okay with it.

But now she was lost. She had no control over anything and for all she knew she would be kept alive for the next year just to be tortured. After all, no one had heard of someone injuring Kyuubi. So she had no idea what kind of reaction to expect.

"Are you Kyuubi?" She suddenly found herself asking. She snapped her mouth shut so hard that her teeth clanked and she stared wide eyed at the man holding her. She couldn't believe she had just asked that. What if somehow that would piss him off and he would kill her right then and there.

She stared at the blonde holding her as he leapt from tree to tree. At first he showed no sign of answering, which is why it startled Hinata when he finally did.

"Yes." He said smoothly. The growl in his voice not as evident as it had been before.

"What are you going to do with me?" Hinata asked feeling a little encouraged by the fact he answered her first question. But this time no answer came. He merely stared ahead with blood red eyes, which Hinata found herself avoiding.

Despair seemed to have made itself home for Hinata. She felt like the weight of the world was crashing down on her. She didn't know what to do anymore.

"Are you going to kill me?" Hinata asked choking as she began to fill tears fill her eyes, once again not expecting an answer.

"No." Came the immediate answer. Hinata snapped her head up starring at Kyuubi with shock. Briefly his eyes snapped to hers and an annoyed expression plastered itself across his face.

"Be still." He growled at her. And Hinata realized she had been shaking.

She calmed herself as best as she could, while still staring at him.

"You-" Hinata began.

"Shut it." Kyuubi snarled at her, getting a temper out of nowhere. She felt herself jump in him arms and immediately still herself when his earlier threat came to mind.

She watched as his blonde hair swayed in the wind and his red eyes glared angrily before them.

Hinata was terrified of this man. This _demon._ She wanted to cry but was too scared to do so in front of him. If she was going to be killed she wanted it to happen now. She honestly didn't believe he wouldn't kill her. He was a demon. Deceiving, evil, sly, anything and everything negative in the world. But he, _it_, was the worst of them all. This was Kyuubi. And he had just kidnapped her and was taking her away to who knows where to do who knows what.

She was quiet as the stared up at him and her mind began racing.

She needed to get away. That was the mine objective that was blaring in the fore front of her mind and she was having a hard time concentrating on anything else.

But she had no idea how to get away. She would need the help of an entire village. The image of Kyuubi destroying the Snow Village flashed through her mind and she found herself feeling sick. But that was a small village, one not even capable of having a Kage. Maybe a bigger village could help her. But in all honesty why on earth would a village send out its entire forces to save one girl.

Head priestess of the Hyuuga clan or not, Hinata seriously doubted anyone would feel the need to risk their village's neck in order to save her own.

Thoughts came to her mind regarding her family, and how they had sent her that letter accepting her as heir. She was gotten away with her life after encountering the kyuubi and accomplished the task she had set out for. Even though she vaguely remembered earlier she hadn't been quite satisfied with just that, she would be more than happy to take it now.

Looking back up, she focused her eyes on the blood smeared man holding her. His blonde hair shined brilliantly in the moonlight and his deep red eyes seemed to glow. His features were chiseled, looking rather animalistic and hard, and beneath it all she could feel the terrifying demonic energy beating against him, as if pushing from inside of him in a mad effort to get out.

A sudden drop made her yelp and grab onto his shirt. His red eyes focused on her and he snarled, sharp white k-9 teeth reflecting the moon.

"Don't touch me, and shut the fuck up."

She snapped her mouth shut and jerked her hand away, quickly cradling it to her chest as though he would rip it off, which honestly she didn't doubt he would do. Killing intent rolled off of him and directed itself to her as Kyuubi glared at her for a moment longer.

She wanted to say sorry, if just to get his glaring eyes away from her, but couldn't find the strength to speak. But after only a second longer he continued looking forward, his piercing scowl no longer trained on her. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes. She felt the forbidding doom begin to surround her, as if telling her that she was about to live through hell.

"Why don't you just kill me?" Hinata spoke up, not knowing where she got her courage from.

Kyuubi stopped moving, planting his feet onto a branch. The limb cracked underneath him, threatening to snap with the force of his stop, and before Hinata knew what was happening, the arms had let go of her and she was falling. She screamed and ducked her head in, trying to brace herself from protruding branches. Her scream caught in her throat and for the second time that night for the same reason terror tore its way up her stomach and she couldn't regret something as much as she did then.

But just like before, a steal painful grip caught her before she was able to hit the ground, but it was short lived when the grip was lost again and she fell the remaining few feet to the ground. She hit it rather roughly landing on her back. She rolled over and grabbed her chest, breathing deeply. Tears streaming down her face and knew that she wouldn't be able to handle much more before her body had a heart attack and killed its self.

"Obviously you don't want to die, so I wouldn't make such suggestions." A voice that she painfully recognized said from above her. Trembling she looked up and spotted Kyuubi lounging in a tree, his eyes now blue and staring passively at her while he leaned back comfortably.

"You have a lot of combat experience." He said, as if simply stating an observation he found in a text book.

"What do you want with me?" Hinata suddenly screamed, glaring intently at Kyuubi. "Are you mad? Are you getting revenge?" She was trembling, and knew that it was only her overwhelmed state of mind that was allowing her to yell at the demon.

Instead of replying Kyuubi just stared at Hinata, the same way a bored child would watch ants march around their ant hill.

"Of course I don't want to die, but I'd rather be killed now if I'm just going to be tortured." Hinata continued. Not caring that she was pushing her luck.

Irritation flashed across Kyuubi's face, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh?" He said in mock interest, "what makes you think you're going to be tortured?"

Hinata felt her stomach burn, and she grounded her teeth in anger.

"Because you're _you_." She yelled glaring up at him.

In a flash the spot he was sitting on was gone and Hinata found her vision full of dark red eyes.

"Who exactly am I?" He asked, his voice dripping with venom, anger rolling off of him in waves, mixed with demonic energy.

"K-kyuubi." Hinata said, stuttering, her voice speaking for itself.

Kyuubi stood up from his crouched position, and Hinata realized she was still lying on the ground when she was face to face with his bare feet. Vaguely faintly Hinata conceived that his feet looked perfectly untouched and unmarked even though he had just been racing through thick barked trees, only adding evidence to his power, but stopped herself from going down that mental road.

She pushed herself up from the ground into a sitting position, wincing when her back felt strained, she definitely hurt herself during that fall. She watched as Kyuubi paced back and forth in front of her, eyes closed.

"Don't piss me off." He told her viscously, his voice taking on that deep edge that bordered a growl.

"Why does it matter?" Hinata found herself saying, although her mind was panicing, telling her to stop. Funny how brave a person could be when they didn't think they had a chance at living. "You're going to kill me anyway."

Abruptly Hinata was yanked upward by her arm, so roughly that she felt like it was going to be pulled from her socket, her eyes not even having time to follow Kyuubis movement. His face got close to her and her growled so low that Hinata wasn't sure if she truly heard it or not.

"I've told you I not going to kill you. Right now your only choice is to trust me. So, for what better be the last time, I'm going to tell you to shut the _fuck_ up before I lose my resolve and slaughter you right here."

Hinata's face paled as she looked into Kyuubi's eyes. She felt her voice catch in her throat and nodded meekly. Now it seemed she may just have a chance of getting out of this alive, and she didn't want to ruin it for herself.

Through all her fear and the constricting pain despair making taking toll on her, she felt the tiniest spark if hope ignite. Maybe she could get out of this, if Kyuubi truly didn't plan on killing her, maybe she would make it out alive. Right now she could want nothing more than a little hope, so she was going to cling desperately onto the promise of a demon in the rare, slim, almost impossible to see chance that he would keep it.

"Go to sleep." Kyuubi told her suddenly.

Hinatas eyes widened and she looked around the dark, damp woods. She had slept outside numerous times, mostly when out on journeys to kill demons, but she had at least some shelter, and usually a few people accompanying her.

But she didn't argue, instead keeping in mind that she shouldn't anger Kyuubi again and began looking around for a suitable place to sleep. They must have been rather far from the snow village because while it was still cold and wet it wasn't snowing and the ground wasn't covered in ice. She mutely wondered just how far they had traveled, her imagination seeming all too plausible with how fast she had witnessed Kyuubi capable of moving.

She stood up and started making her way to what seemed to be a fairly thick patch of grass until a pain in her foot made itself obvious to her. She gasped and fell to one knee, gripping her thigh while waiting for the pain to subside.

She really didn't want to crawl in front of this demon, to look so weak was the last thing she wasn't to do. So she instead laid down right where she was, on a mostly mudding area with spacey grass. She grabbed all of her hair and brought it over her shoulder, twisting it then tying it in a knot. She didn't want to wake up with it caked in mud or plastered across her face.

She looked around and spotted Kyuubi in a tree, leaning with his back against it, while staring up at the sky. She really doubted she was going to sleep tonight. Actually it was stupid to even hope she would. But she would stay quiet and be sure not to piss off Kyuubi.

She had a future to live, and she'd be damn if she didn't make it through this.

(A/N): Thanks so much for the love this story is getting (: Please continue to let me know if this is going on the right track.  
Naruto will not continue being so mean, for those of you that are worried.  
Thanks Again  
**xoxo-Peculiar :3**


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